Jerry Wayne Strode - Repeat Sex Offender

The Northwest Arkansas Sex Offender and Violent Crime Task Force has announced the arrest of Jerry Wayne Strode, 54, a career criminal with more than 40 arrests spanning back to 1968.

Strode, whose address is listed as 102 N. Ethel Ave. in Fayetteville, faces criminal charges involving failure to register as a habitual child sex offender, two counts of theft of property, two counts of forgery, two counts of fraudulent use of a credit card, two counts of failure to appear, and one count of parole violation. He also faces charges out of the Springdale Police Department.

Members of the River Valley Sex Offender Task Force and the U. S. Marshals Service in Muskogee, Okla., arrested Strode early Tuesday morning at his work site near Poteau, Okla. The Northwest Arkansas Sex Offender Task Force adopted the case at the request of the Johnson Police Department and the Washington County and Madison County sheriff's offices.

The task force had been tracking Strode since late November. After requesting assistance from the U. S. Marshals Service in Colorado, investigators received vital evidence.

According to a press release issued by the Marshals Service in Arkansas, Strode had ties to Colorado and east Arkansas. With more than 20 aliases and numerous birth dates, he remained at large until a short time after the task force adopted the case, the release stated.

Prior to his arrest, according to the release, Strode fled from police and was found hiding in a pile of brush near his work site, located in an isolated region of Le Flore County, Okla. He was initially booked into the Le Flore County Detention Center but was later extradited to Arkansas and booked into the Washington County Detention Center in Fayetteville, where he was being held on a $ 8, 720 bond Wednesday night.

In addition to being booked on the listed charges, Strode has an extensive criminal history and was last classified as a levelthree sex offender.

According to Arkansas sex offender guidelines, level-four offenders are labeled only by the courts, while levels one through three are labeled based on an assessment by the Arkansas Department of Correction. Level-three sex offenders are considered to be high risk. They usually have histories of repeat sexual offenses and / or strong antisocial, violent or predatory personality characteristics. Notification to neighborhood residents is mandatory for level-three and -four sex offenders.

Agencies involved in Strode's arrest include the Johnson Police Department; Washington County, Madison County and White County sheriff's offices; and the U. S. Marshals Service in Little Rock, Fort Smith, Colorado and Muskogee, Okla.

U. S. Marshal Richard O'Connell attributed Strode's arrested to the combined efforts of the Northwest Arkansas and River Valley sex offender task forces.

"The concept behind these task forces is to bring local agencies together under a combined effort to make our communities safer," he said in the release. "In this case, that's exactly what happened, and the U. S. Marshals Service is proud to play a part in the effort."